SPOILERS for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” below.
“This is not going to go the way you think.” This now famous (or infamous) Luke Skywalker quote has almost come to define the latest entry into the Star Wars saga, “The Last Jedi.” With people completely split on how they feel about the film, look no further than the Rotten Tomatoes scores, I think it’s fair to say that Director Rian Johnson’s interpretation of the franchise, at the very least, cannot be considered a “safe” movie. But one aspect some fans have taken issue with is the characterization of Luke.
For all of the film’s twists and turns, the one thing that “The Last Jedi” actually did that I consider “safe” is the way they handled Luke’s character arc. This isn’t a bad thing either because despite what the above tweet says, the film actually respects George Lucas’s original characterization of everyone’s favorite Jedi: that he be the perfect analog to King Arthur.
Everything in “Star Wars” has its roots in something much older than “Star Wars” itself. Whether it be the cinematic influence of Akira Kurosawa’s samurai films or the archetypal hero theory that Joseph Campbell details in “The Hero with a Thousand Faces.” Campbell’s theory, known as the monomyth, is summarized in the introduction to his book:
“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”
This storytelling model describes countless tales but most importantly it describes those of Luke Skywalker and King Arthur. “Star Wars” closely follows many of the same steps as the Arthurian legend by design, as Lucas closely followed Campbell’s outlines of the monomyth while creating “Star Wars.”
Luke and King Arthur both start in an ordinary world. Luke, a moisture farmer on Tatooine, lives with his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. Meanwhile, King Arthur is raised by his step-father Sir Ector and is a squire to his family. It is worth noting that Uncle Owen is actually Luke’s step-uncle, not biological, but doing so would require diving into some “Star Wars” lineage which is too much to get into right now. The point is that Luke and Arthur even share the tiny detail of being raised by step-relatives. Both of these heroes start from humble beginnings, making them accessible and relatable to the audience.
Luke’s call to adventure comes when he discovers the message from Princess Leia inside R2D2 which causes him to meet his mentor Ben Kenobi, a space wizard, and gets a special laser sword in the process. Similarly, King Arthur meets Merlin, a regular wizard, and pulls a special sword from a stone.
Luke initially refuses the call, however, stating that he can’t get involved in the fight against the Empire. But in King Arthur’s case, it is others that refuse him as the King, and they force Arthur to pull the sword from the stone again on Christmas and Easter.
In crossing the threshold, both heroes accept the call to adventure that will continue to shape them as characters. After the Empire kills Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, Luke is ready to leave Tatooine to join the fight and learn the ways of the Force. While Luke finally accepts his journey, Arthur is finally accepted as the true King of England.
Both heroes also discover they come from an important lineage, with Arthur learning from Merlin that King Uther Pendragon was his father. Luke also learns that Darth Vader, or Anakin Skywalker, is his father in “The Empire Strikes Back.” This discovery reframes our initial assumptions of both characters, as their humble beginnings turned out to not be so humble after all.
But Luke and Arthur both accomplish extraordinary things before their origins are revealed. Luke destroys the Death Star and Arthur pulls the sword from the stone, making it clear to generations of people who grew up with these stories that greatness can come from anywhere.
As the stories of Luke and King Arthur go on they face numerous tests, before approaching the final ordeal. In Luke’s case, that would be facing the Emperor while Arthur faces King Lot. These trials help our characters grow and prepare them for their final confrontation.
Both Luke and Arthur are rewarded at the end of their challenge. Luke defeats the Emperor and redeems his father, while Arthur defeats King Lot and finds the Holy Grail. After this, our heroes are at their peak, but anyone who didn’t skip out on high school English class knows that Arthur’s story doesn’t end there and neither does Luke’s.
King Arthur tries to build a bigger and better kingdom by establishing the Knights of the Round Table, an order of knights that will fight for good and for those who cannot defend themselves. Both “The Force Awakens” and “The Last Jedi” describe how Luke set out to train the next generation of Jedi, a religious order that protects peace and justice throughout the galaxy.
Things are going great for Arthur and for Luke for a few years. The Knights of the Round Table embark on a series of chivalrous quests and Luke explores the galaxy looking into the history of the force and trying to come to a deeper understanding of it. While this isn’t explicitly mentioned in “The Last Jedi,” a lot of that part of the story is filled out in supplementary material like the “Star Wars: Battlefront II” video game and “The Legends of Luke Skywalker” novel.
But all good things must come to an end, and both Arthur and Luke are undone by arrogance and family conflict. Arthur’s wife Queen Guinevere has an affair with Arthur’s best friend Lancelot. Mordred, Arthur’s bastard son, seeks revenge on his father and as such forces him to confront the affair between Lancelot and Guinevere, leading to Arthur prosecuting both his wife and his best friend.
Arthur ends up leaving to besiege Lancelot’s castle after he saves Guinevere from burning at the stake. This gives Mordred the chance to usurp the throne but Arthur quickly returns to face him. In the final confrontation between them, Mordred is killed and Arthur is mortally wounded.
Luke’s family conflict that leads to his downfall is a lot simpler but no less tragic. Han and Leia entrust Luke to train their son, Ben Solo, in the ways of the force along with Luke’s other students. But Ben is seduced to the dark side by Supreme Leader Snoke, and Luke senses this within him. The details of Snoke’s seduction are unclear at the moment but surely the inevitable “Snoke” novel will help fill in the gaps.
Luke confronts Ben and for a moment ignites his lightsaber on the thought of killing him before he can become another Darth Vader. While Luke immediately regrets this thought, it is too late and Ben wakes up to, in his mind, defend himself from an uncle who is trying to kill him.
Both Luke and Arthur are so undone by vindictive younger relatives that they are both whisked away to mystical islands, Ach-To and Avalon respectively, only to return when they’re needed the most. And we do see that come to fruition at the end of “The Last Jedi,” when the Resistance is on its last legs Luke appears to buy them enough time to find an escape. Fortunately for England, nothing bad enough has happened yet to justify the return of King Arthur. Here’s hoping Brexit doesn’t end up going horribly wrong.
So when people say that Luke Skywalker’s character was “assassinated” or that Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy have destroyed their childhood, they should actually take it up with George Lucas. The old Star Wars Extended Universe (now branded as “Legends”) showed a Luke Skywalker who was still the hero of this saga, but now that mantle has been passed on. The best, and in my opinion the only, way to make room for the next generation while still treating this beloved character with the respect he deserves was to go back to the earliest days of “Star Wars” and follow that underlying Arthurian thread to its natural conclusion.